


Weighted Wings

by Rulerofyouall



Series: Birds of a Feather [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Drowning, Gay Male Character, Grooming, Jason Todd Has Issues, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd is Red Hood, M/M, Protective Roy Harper, Roy Harper Needs a Hug, Wing Grooming, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28312269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rulerofyouall/pseuds/Rulerofyouall
Summary: Wings were difficult to maintain on a normal day. Upon being dumped into the Gotham Harbor, it becomes a whole different story.
Relationships: Roy Harper & Jason Todd, Roy Harper & Koriand'r & Jason Todd, Roy Harper/Jason Todd
Series: Birds of a Feather [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2171418
Comments: 3
Kudos: 153





	Weighted Wings

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing!

People used to compare him to the Devil himself. When he was younger, purer, more innocent, he had been better, more heroic, albeit a bit rebellious. Eventually, his rebellious streak led him to disobeying his father, Bruce, to go with his biological mother.

He had died. He had fallen from grace.

When he came back to life, it didn't get much better.

His wings were once small, so small that Bruce was concerned that he would never be able to use them. After all, how could such tiny wings possibly support the weight of a whole person? Bruce seemed to forget that the rest of him was small too.

The Lazarus Pit changed all of that. They were larger, much larger than Jason ever thought they would be. The two limbs could easily support not only his body weight but also that of a passenger. The Pit had made him stronger, but his wings had been thoroughly soaked in its waters. It was always difficult to clean out every single feather, and when they got wet, they took forever to dry.

His once white wings had a greenish hue to them now, stained permanently by the waters. He had thought that his newer feathers would grow back normally, but they too had been corrupted.

He simply wasn't the same person anymore.

He didn't want Bruce to see them.

Typically, they would be bound tightly underneath his body armor, far away from other people's line of vision. He always felt jealous when he saw other people flaunt theirs. The other Bats showed so much pride in their own wings. Bruce's were black. Dick's were blue, and Alfred's were gray.

All of them would meet up with each other to groom them too. It was quite difficult for a single person to straighten every single feather, especially those far out of their line of sight.

Jason had never been invited to these occasions.

The Outlaws would do it though. Kori didn't have wings of her own, but she learned how to help the others quickly.

Roy's were a bright, fiery red color. When the light hit them just right, they almost seemed to glow themselves.

His, of course, used to be white. There were a lot of stories and myths surrounding those with white wings. People liked to think that they were somehow purer than the others. White wings were supposed to be a sign of a person's goodness.

But, of course, his were not white anymore.

There were several goons in the alley below him, all of them with darker colored wings. Jason remembered well that darker colors were more popular in Crime Alley. Some people would even dye their wings to imitate that color. After all, it was much more difficult for a police officer to track down someone with dark wings than any other color.

He himself had stuck out like a sore thumb back then, but his mother had encouraged him to never dye it. She said they were beautiful as they were.

Unfortunately, his wings were now not as they used to be.

These men definitely worked for Carmine Falcone. He could practically smell it on them. Jason had been tracking these men for weeks, but he had never seen them up close before.

He landed behind them silently. "Hey, fellas." He leant against the alley wall awkwardly, unused to using the Bats' methods.

All of them went for their guns immediately.

"Red Hood." The first one seemed confident, too confident, almost bordering on arrogance.

Jason was not sure why.

"I hear you've been selling some shit to kids." He flicked his eyes around the men. "On my turf? Did you expect me to not notice?"

The gang had started selling a drug similar to a sedative. It was easy to trick others into consuming and highly addictive. Definitely not something Jason wanted in Crime Alley.

"No, we knew you'd come." The same guy continued. "Boss made plans for this."

And just as though they had rehearsed it all, a crack rippled through the air, and pain blossomed on the back of his right knee. The vigilante crumbled to the ground quickly, but not before firing off a few shots himself. Several of the other henchmen dove into the shadows.

There was a sniper. A motherfucking sniper, and he hadn't noticed their presence.

_What a dumbass._

"Now, you've been pissing of the boss for many years now, Hood, you understand?" The henchman didn't wait for him to answer. "He wants you gone, but I think we all know by now how difficult it is to get rid of you."

_Like a parasite._

"In fact, he doesn't even want to see your body." The goon looked outside the alley, right towards the dirty waters of Gotham Harbor. "How good of a swimmer are you?"

_That depends entirely on whether or not I have a fucking bullet in my leg, jackass._

A second goon whispered something into the ear of the first before taking off.

The first one considered whatever words he had just heard. "Smith is right. We need to get rid of more of his limbs." He smiled sadistically before taking out a gun of his own and shooting a round straight into Jason's good kneecap faster than he could blink.

_Damn them._

"I think that should suffice; what about you?" He asked his colleagues, but they remained silent like usual.

Black spots dotted his vision, only increasing in number as two henchmen forced him to his feet and pushed him closer to the edge.

_Fuck, these are going to get hella infected._

_Fuck, I'm about to be thrown in the harbor._

And he was. Quickly, without hesitation. The first guy at the very least was adept at his job and clearly had loads of experience.

The water rushed into his lungs as he gasped at the cold. They soaked his clothes, especially the bandages he used to keep his wings in place. In fact, they were coming off due to this.

His wings himself were a big problem. Whenever they got wet, they got heavy as fuck. Sure, Jason was a lot stronger now than he was while he was Robin, but it was still too much for him to handle. He beat them desperately a few times, but he only managed to make himself sink further.

The waters of the harbor were filthy, and due to this, there was incredibly low visibility. All the light vanished almost immediately, and he was unable to tell how far down he was or if he was even upright. Shaking himself, he fired a few more shots in the direction he thought was upright. The bullets wouldn't go as far due to the water, but his gun was still functional. Even if he didn't hit anyone, perhaps it would indicate his location to others.

As if they were even looking for him.

His eyes stung from the water. He had been holding his breath for a while now, but he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold out. Talia had made sure he was adept at holding his breath for long periods of time and adequate at swimming, but his legs at this point were nearly nonfunctional.

The pain in his knees made him forget about the water, and he tried to suck in a deep breath. The harbor burned his lungs, and he tried to cough it out. It was no use.

There was a bit of black spotting his vision now.

Perhaps if his wings had been even slightly smaller, he wouldn't be in this situation now. The amount of water held by the feathers increased exponentially as the size of the wings also increased.

Water was heavy.

It all went black.

Needless to say, Roy was not having a good night. He had gotten out of bed after he was all nice and cozy to find Jay gearing up earlier. He was supposed to be having a quiet night, but apparently, his Jaybird had had some sort of major break in the Falcone case. Roy didn't blame him for wanting to take care of it immediately, but bringing him along as backup would have made him feel better. 

He had searched everywhere, but Jason was no where to be found. Obviously, his comms had been damaged somehow. They weren't working either. Even the harbor seemed to feel his unease. The water was rippling like crazy as if something large was moving around underneath of it. He wasn't sure why.

He stepped into the alley nearby.

There was a lot of blood, to say the least. Most of it was focused on one area near the front although there was some coming from other places to and therefore from other people. He eyed the largest puddle. Whoever was here had been dragged away. It smeared across the floor for a while until whoever it belonged to was probably forced to their feet. It led in the general direction of the harbor.

Someone was in the harbor. He wasn't sure how long they had been in there or even really their exact location, but he couldn't just ignore that fact.

He took out his phone and sent a quick text to Kori. Arsenal would go in and do what he could, but no matter what happened, he would be cold as fuck when he came out.

Shaking himself a bit, he eyed the rippling water about a meter away. A person might be able to make such a large disturbance.

He dove in and went blind almost immediately. The ripples slowed a bit, almost coming to a complete stop. That was not a good sign. His wings flapped wildly, pushing tons of water out of the way with each pass.

Oddly enough, the deeper he got, the more light appeared. It was a green light, not incredibly dark but a much more gentle hue. The source of the light was massive, nearly 25 feet across. He felt oddly drawn to it.

He swam deeper, ignoring the little voice in the back of his head to swim up for air. Twenty-five feet was a little bit above the average wingspan, and he had never heard of anyone's wings glowing in the dark before. The person the belonged to was probably tall and heavy enough to rationalize the large wings.

His Jaybird was tall too. His wings were green now and exactly 25.8 feet across.

_God damn it, what did he do?_

His wings never got as heavy as Jay's when waterlogged, but he was beginning to feel the strain. Jason couldn't be that far away now.

His hands hit something solid. It felt like kevlar.

_Jay? Is that you?_

He gripped the man hard and turned towards the surface. It was difficult. He himself was tired, and Jay was never exactly light, especially when wet. He fought through though; he had to. He'd never forgive himself if he didn't.

Kori was already waiting for them, diving in herself when she saw them coming towards the surface. She took Red Hood from Arsenal's hands immediately, repeatedly performing CPR as Roy coughed wetly into his hand.

"He's gonna be okay, right? Kori, is he going to be okay?" He stared at the water streaming from his wings and the blood streaming from his knees.

Starfire didn't answer, too busy giving the kiss of life to his partner. At this point, it had been several long minutes, and Jason hadn't started breathing yet. He held his breath.

His wings hadn't stopped glowing yet. It was faint now. The green almost seemed to take him over as though the Lazarus Pit was still trying to heal him, years after he was dunked in it.

His Jaybird coughed a bit, and Kori quickly turned his head to let him wretch onto the ground. It seemed as though he had swallowed the entirety of the Gotham Harbor based off of how much water was coming up.

"Hood," his eyes softened slightly. "What happened?"

"Got fucked."

"Well, I certainly hope not. That's my job."

He snorted a little bit, wincing as the ache in his lungs returned.

"We should move." Kori was standing now, alertly looking around. "His knees need bandaging, antibiotics too." She added the last part after a moment of thought.

"You're staying hidden for a while." Roy wrapped one of Jason's arms around his shoulder, supporting a good portion of his weight. Kori took the other side.

"I'll be fine soon."

"Who knows what was in that water? And now, it's in your lungs. You could get pneumonia, Jay."

"Wouldn't be the first time."

"That's not the point."

They took off into the sky. Roy made a note to call Dick later, once he was sure Jason was all right. He wasn't going to let his partner back out for a while, and someone needed to take care of Falcone and his men. Roy wanted to do it himself, but he knew that he would have to watch his Jaybird. Otherwise, who knew what he would get into.

Their apartment wasn't the largest in the world, but it was enough for them. There were few rooms, but the most important was their bedroom. The two of them had built quite an impressive nest of blankets and pillows over the last few weeks. Roy and Kori let Jason all but collapse on it.

"The bullet missed your kneecaps." Kori carefully put her hands on the wound.

Roy took out a small knife, lightly pinning his partner down. "Don't move."

"Bitch, I like these pants; don't you fucking dare."

Ignoring him, Roy cautiously ripped at the fabric of his pants, freeing the wounds and allowing Kori to look at them better. He caught Jason's eyes, seeing a glare coming at him, but Roy knew it was more playful than anything. Jason knew that they had to do it anyway. It would have hurt a hell of a lot more to take them off any other way.

Kori suddenly sent him a sharp look saying "distract him."

"Jay, let me take your armor off."

"You just want to take my clothes off."

He heard Kori snort behind him. "What can I say? You look so much better without it."

Jason's smile became more strained as Kori started stitching his knees back together, but it never disappeared. Roy took this as an invitation to slowly undo the ties keeping his armor on. The plates came off easily, and so did the remnants of his broken helmet. Roy left him in his black undershirt.

His partner's eyes turned towards the side table. "Get me my stick, Roy."

Roy smirked a bit, moving to collect it. Both of them had preening sticks. They had made them long ago to groom each other more easily. Normal birds could preen with their beaks, but their species always kept sticks to do so instead. Jason's was made out of a dark pine while Roy's was of a white oak.

He eyed the dirt coating both of their wings. "I'm going to go get some water."

Jason chuckled. "You better."

Kori worked quickly on her stitches, and by the time Roy returned with clean, warm water, she had finished. Jason was fingering the pine wood of his stick, clearly waiting for Roy to return.

Excitement filled him. Even though Jason was injured, he knew that he very rarely had someone to help him groom his wings. He had been a loner for years, and even while under Talia's care, he rarely let anyone help him.

He always let Roy in though.

"I'll leave you two alone for a while." Kori waved at them as she all but pranced gleefully out of the room.

"Hey, babe." He placed the water on the table and collected two rags.

"We're going to have to do so much laundry later."

"You mean I will. You're staying here for a while." He reminded pointedly.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm sure we can convince Kori to do it then."

Roy soaked one of the rags in the water and brought it gently to one of his partner's massive wings. They would be here for a while. "We can certainly ask her."

Jason reached over to grab the other rag and wiped at Roy's wings as well. They weren't as dirty as his own, but the fiery color was still much more muted than he liked it to be. His wings were always as bright as his soul, and that was the way Jason liked it.

He picked up his stick, carefully repositioning some of the feathers and digging the dirt out of them. Roy followed suit, sliding one of his legs over his lap and effectively straddling him. He leaned closer, bringing his mouth close to Jason's neck.

He could feel Roy's breath behind his ear, and it sent shivers up his spine. Jason wrapped his arms around Roy's waist, finding his uropygial gland. It was a bilobed exocrine gland that they all had, more commonly known as the "preening" gland. Using its oils, he rubbed it all throughout his partner's feathers. It would help in feather waterproofing, color, and skin health.

Jason felt Roy's stick on the back of his right wing. He knew his wings were disgusting at the moment, and it wasn't only because of the corrupted green hue. The Gotham Harbor had given his wings layers of dirt and slime and other things he didn't want to think about.

"I love you, Jaybird, you know that?"

"Yes, Roy."

"Please bring me with you next time you want to rush into danger."

"Hmm." He hummed a bit as he brushed through some more of his feathers. While not as massive as his, Roy's wingspan was still an impressive 24 feet of fire.

"Don't do this again, okay?"

"I won't, Roy."

"Good. I nearly didn't find you at all, let alone in time." Truly, he had basically just stumbled upon his Jaybird.

He leaned into Roy gently, taking in the scent of his coconut shampoo. Jason had bought him that one the previous week. Somehow, the harbor hadn't washed it all away.

Roy turned his head slightly, pressing his lips against the curve of his neck. "You're a fucking mess."

Jason scowled and bopped the back of his partner's head. "Bitch, I got shot; it ain't my fucking fault."

He snorted in disbelief. "Says the dude who ran off on his own with no plan."

"That may not be my proudest moment, but it's still not my fault."

"Of course not, because you _never_ do anything wrong."

"Damn right." Jason gripped some of his feathers tightly, forcing Roy even closer.

He curled his cleaner wings around the two of them, creating a barrier between them and the outside world. They were the only ones who mattered here.

"Hey, Jay," the other man blinked lazily up at him.

"Hey." Jason blinked down at him. "What're you thinking?"

"You're warm." He smiled. "Feathers are fluffy, thanks to _moi._ "

He snorted. "And what do you want to do now?"

"Snuggles."

"We're already doing that."

" _Exactly._ It's perfect."

"All righty then."

And they were perfect together.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated!


End file.
